Prepping for Brexit thread

DigForVictory

I've a can of marmade, In The Event - none of my tribe are desperate marmelade eaters but are going through the home made strawberry jam at pace, dash them. It hadn't occurred to me the sugar might be an issue - shall stick Tate & L sugar on the list & see if children notice.

Ware sent me a lovely big box of cute little jars (not the hotel size, but half the average supermarket ones) as for some reason they hadn't sold (possibly a load of faff per jar) & thus were cheap - I'm now eyeing any discounted fruits with a cheerful goose-is-getting-fat glint. Kiwi fruit jam is a thing but it isn't that Amazing green...

DawnW

I make marmalade, with any sugar, and any type of citrus fruits, and apart from one occasion when I used very sweet oranges and didn't add enough lemon juice, never have setting problems. I freeze ones that get left over in the fruit bowl (in fact any citrus that doesnt get used at its best, dull looking, a bit shrivelled etc) and make marmalade when there are enough to make it worth while. Mixed citrus marmalade is nice too.

Marguerite Patten's Basic Basics Jams, Preserves and Chutneys book is the best I have found for recipes, quantities etc. One thing I would add, is to up the fruit to sugar ratio a bit if you use frozen fruit (ie a bit more fruit). I have tried the Mamade tins, but find them a bit dull, like bought marmalade. However, if that is what you prefer, it is fine, and always works.

Primrose

Mixed citrus marmalade (orange, lemon, grapefruit ) is delicious but if you want to include lime, just use the juice and not the peel because lime peel hardens during the boiling process until it becomes as stiff as sticks and you risk breaking a tooth on it. We once had to go through a whole batch of set mixed citrus marmalade removing every piece of lime peel to avoid future dental accidents. Remember some people who take certain medications need to avoid grapefruit though.

Incidentally if you like really thick chunky marmalade (as we do in this house where pieces of peel are a prize to be fished for!) , save some of the peel from ordinary peeled oranges in advance, freeze them or store in the fridge then chop them up and add to the mix when you start the boiling process.

A good home-made marmalade will keep for years. We once found some forgotten jars stored in our loft which were ten years old. It still tasted perfect but had caramelised to a very dark brown.

If you use Marmade, I agree, it does lack a certain "fresh fruit deliciousness" flavour that you get when using fresh fruits. Substituting some juice from fresh fruit for part of the water you need to add may help a little.

Incidentally Seville oranges freeze well if you're too busy to make marmalade when they come into their very short season in January. They also cut up more easily than fresh ones after thawing, we individually wrap ours in cling film when freezing. Not really necessary for short term freezing but we once found some forgotten ones at the back of the freezer over a year old and having been wrapped in cling film they were still perfectly usable. Unwrapped they might not have been.

[Deleted User]

Well folks, the long awaited announcement has finally come that there will probably be shortages of food, medicines and fuel come Brexit day and I now expect there to be gaps on shelves in the shops. It will be interesting to see what people feel are the necessities of life as opposed to what I think are the necessities of life.

Farway

DigForVictory wrote: »

I've a can of marmade, In The Event - none of my tribe are desperate marmelade eaters but are going through the home made strawberry jam at pace, dash them. It hadn't occurred to me the sugar might be an issue - shall stick Tate & L sugar on the list & see if children notice.
.

Not all T & L sugar is cane sugar, a lot is beet sugar. The cane is used generally for the Demerara types and molasses

If you specifically want cane then I've found it labelled as such, at a price due to EU tariffs protecting beet growers


I use Mamade, and any old white sugar, always works
I found white T & L in savers at 49 a Kg bag just this week. I never knew Savers sold sugar so big surprise and cheapest around.

DryTheRain

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Well folks, the long awaited announcement has finally come that there will probably be shortages of food, medicines and fuel come Brexit day and I now expect there to be gaps on shelves in the shops. It will be interesting to see what people feel are the necessities of life as opposed to what I think are the necessities of life.

Crikey that's scary - but will it be dismissed as Project Fear?!

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/operation-chaos-whitehalls-secret-no-deal-brexit-plan-leaked-j6ntwvhll

dandy-candy

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Well folks, the long awaited announcement has finally come that there will probably be shortages of food, medicines and fuel come Brexit day and I now expect there to be gaps on shelves in the shops. It will be interesting to see what people feel are the necessities of life as opposed to what I think are the necessities of life.

I wonder if the shortages will be of similar things as WW2 because its imported good again? I do like bananas!

THIRZAH

I usually do make marmalade with fresh oranges in January but thought I'd get the Mamade in just in case there are problems obtaining them next year. DH has marmalade every morning so I'd like to make sure we do have some in the Brexit cupboard.Lakeland seems to be only place that stocks the thick cut Mamade around here.

Primrose

I don,t know whether you can oven dry bananas at home if can buy them cheaply enough to make the use of the fuel worthwhile but they can certainly be dried. I remember as a child relatives in Canada sending us a case of dried ones at the end of the war. They were delicious but very offputting tomlook at as they look like dried up unpleasant items you find on pavements. :rotfl:

They can certainly be peeled and frozen.

Primrose

THIRZAH wrote: »

I usually do make marmalade with fresh oranges in January but thought I'd get the Mamade in just in case there are problems obtaining them next year. DH has marmalade every morning so I'd like to make sure we do have some in the Brexit cupboard.Lakeland seems to be only place that stocks the thick cut Mamade around here.

One would hope that even if there were temporary import hiccups for fresh fruit and veg immediately after Brexit, these would have been ironed out by the time the January Seville orange season starts here. Don,t forget that the UK is a big market for Seville oranges and the Spanish growers can't afford to have their fruit rotting on the trees and losing them money. A way of getting them here will surely be found.